"This is bullshit," Flynn muttered under his breath as his eyes swept the room once again. "There is something fishy about this." He focused his gaze on the auburn-haired woman next to him.

Sharon sighed. "It has been two hours," she conceded, "I don't know how much longer we can remain here without drawing attention to ourselves."

"Yeah, and waiter-boy over here looks like he's getting annoyed with us for taking up his table for so long." Flynn nodded to the young server who had been hovering around their table for the last fifteen minutes, shooting pointed looks at them.

They were seated in a classy Italian restaurant, playing the part of a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Their suspected serial murderer was a regular here, and they had hoped to be able to catch him on one of his "dates" before he could kill again. He was a man of habit; he'd take young women he met through online dating sites out for dinner at the restaurant, then, in stead of driving them home he'd drug them, stab them to death. So far, he had successfully murdered four women this way; and after obtaining a warrant to search the email addresses of each of the four victims, Raydor and her team had narrowed their suspect down to a Mr. Howard Mienner.

Sharon ran her fingers through her hair and let out a frustrated huff. "I don't understand, the woman's email confirmed that he was picking her up for reservations here at 7:00pm," she said, referring to their next possible victim who had set up a date with their suspect.

Flynn shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you. Amy and Julio are outside at the café next door. We'd hear about him arriving before he even stepped foot inside this place."

Sharon drummed her fingers on the table restlessly. Flynn caught her hand and held it tenderly; she shot him an amused glare.

"Hey, we're supposed to be madly in love," he explained with a look of contrived innocence, "shouldn't we be holding hands or something? Did I mention that you look lovely tonight?"

He gave her that sincere grin that she was starting to crave more and more. "We're an old married couple. Those types of marriages hardly have any of the magic left at this point," she said dryly, but made no effort to extract her hand.

Flynn laughed. "Yeah, well, my wife kicked my sorry ass out before we could become an old married couple," at Sharon's sympathetic look he added, "I don't blame her though. I wasn't a good influence on the kids and she had enough sense to put them first. We're divorced, but we talk a lot more now than when we were married."

Sharon nodded. "That happens sometimes. It's easier to talk to someone when you aren't under the kind of pressure that marriage adds to the situation." They shared a knowing, sympathetic smile. "And thank you," she added, referring to his compliment.

"You're welcome. You should wear that to work," he said, nodding his head at the fitted black pants and matching blazer that she wore with her silky magenta blouse that had a plunging v-neckline. "It's…nice," he finished lamely.

Sharon laughed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "If I wore this in the office, could I trust you to pay attention to your work?"

"You wound me," he said, pouting, "I'm working tonight, aren't I?"

"You also keep staring at me," she said quietly.

"Well, that's part of my job tonight," he said, then added seriously, "if I'm making you uncomfortable –"

Sharon squeezed his hand. "I didn't say that I didn't like it."

"Captain, Julio and I just spotted our suspect. He's walking in the restaurant now, arm and arm with his female date."Amy's voice came through on their earpieces, effectively putting their flirtatious banter on hold.

Across the restaurant their suspect and his date made their way over to a table. Andy scanned the place once again, and cursed under his breath. "This place is ten times busier now then it was when we first got here. Taking this piece of shit down is going to be a nightmare. If we don't do this right, he'll use the crowd to his advantage and slip away," he growled.

"Lt. Flynn is right, Amy can you call for back up?" Sharon asked, she was careful to keep her eyes on Andy so it looked like they were having a conversation with one another, rather than talking to their fellow officers.

"Julio is calling for backup right now Captain, but the ETA is at least ten minutes," Amy confirmed.

Sharon shook her head. "Ten minutes might not be good enough. He's already two hours late, I think he knows that we're on to him. We can't risk losing him," she implored.

"I've got an idea," Andy murmured. He signaled for the waiter who eagerly rushed over with their bill. "I love it when the LAPD pays for dinner," he chuckled as the waiter turned away so he could key in the PIN number on his company credit card on the mobile PIN pad. The waiter gave them an impatient smile as he printed both copies of the receipt and started hurriedly clearing their glasses away.

"Your plan, darling?" Sharon asked as she raised her eyebrow.

"Yes dear," Andy replied cheekily, "would you do me the honour of joining me for a dance on this evening, our 25th wedding anniversary?" He nodded his head towards the tiny dance floor in the middle of the dinning area, there was a live jazz band and about half a dozen couples slowly swaying to the music. Relocating there would place them much closer to their suspect without appearing suspicious.

Sharon took his offered arm and followed him gracefully on the dance floor. "Not bad Lieutenant," she murmured as he led her in a slow waltz.

"Oh, now, back to Lieutenant so soon? I kind of liked it when you called me darling." He was flirting more than usual tonight, but then again, she had been too.

"To be honest, I've never been one for pet names," she said, grimacing.

"Heh. Nor have I. But darling is nice, so much better then babe, or baby," he said with a look of mild disgust on his face.

"Baby is the absolute worst," she agreed, "I would be very tempted to use my firearm on a man who ever dared call me that," she said seriously and Andy chuckled. "But, darling is alright, I suppose."

Andy turned her slightly, and she rested her cheek against his shoulder to better survey the suspect sitting a few feet from them. For the moment, the suspect was still too engrossed in his date to notice their presence, and for the moment, Sharon was enjoying being in Andy's arms far too much to be anxious about what may happen next.

"My love is better," Andy said casually. He brushed his lips against the top of her head in a soft kiss. It felt good to have her in his arms, after yearning for her for so long. His heart skipped a beat when he felt her brush her lips against his shoulder in response.

"Has he noticed us yet?" He asked, very quietly. He felt Sharon shake her head in the negative.

"Captain, back up ETA is three minutes," Julio's voice rang in both of their ears. "Get as close as you can to the suspect, now."

"Copy," Sharon said, "Andy and I are just a few feet away and we are armed. But we've got at least thirty civilians in our direct path."

"Copy," Julio affirmed. "We've got people coming in at all angles so we're going to try and surround him before he can attempt to take off or grab a hostage."

Andy turned them once again, with enough flourish to cover up the fact that he'd undone his suit jacket, giving him better access to his firearm.

"You ready?" he asked.

Instead of answering verbally, Sharon lifted her head from its spot against Andy's shoulder and captured his lips in a brief, hard kiss. "My love is definitely better, and not something that I would be opposed to being called," she said as she released his lips. Andy barely had a moment to register the fact that yes, Sharon bull-busting Raydor, who looked stunning in magenta and had amazingly soft lips, had just kissed him because seconds later she was drawing her weapon and heading straight towards their suspect.

"Hands where I can see them! Now!" She shouted. All around her officers started pouring in and shouting at patrons to get on the ground.

Flynn drew his weapon and moved to stand beside her. "You heard her! LAPD, hands up scumbag!" he bellowed. With infinite calmness, the man they believed to be Howard brought his hands, which had been resting on his lap, on top of the table. He held knives in both hands.

The young woman sitting across from him burst into tears. "What is going on?" she shrieked.

"M'am, step away from the table and get on the ground, now," Flynn instructed. Shaking, she began to exit the table; but her date was too quick for them. Since Sharon was the one standing closest to him, she was his easiest target. The blade in his right hand sliced through the top of her thigh, while the tip of the other blade rested against her throat.

Her grip on her gun loosened enough that he was able to knock it out of her hands. Andy felt the colour drain from his face as he saw the dark, wet stain around her leg wound.

"Weapons down officers," he said calmly. "Or I'll finish what I've just started." He kicked Sharon's gun away and looked pointedly at Flynn.

"Lieutenant, don't you dare lower your weapon," Sharon growled.

Flynn clenched his jaw and readjusted his grip on the gun, which was pointed directly at Howard's head. One shot would remove this murderer from the world for good; one shot might also cost Sharon her life.

"Now!" Somewhere behind Sharon, she heard Amy shout out. A shot went off, hitting Howard in the kneecap, forcing him to crumple to the floor. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her leg, Sharon dove to the ground to retrieve her gun and shoved the cool metal against his temple.

"You have a choice. You can stand down and let us arrest you for the murder of four innocent women, and the assault of a police officer, or you can test me again, and realize that when it comes to criminals, that I. Don't. Bluff."

Howard glared at her; Sharon could tell that he was calculating his odds of getting out of this situation alive if he attempted to fight. He took in the overwhelming presence around him, and realized that there be it in a body bag, or in handcuffs, there was no way that he wasn't leaving this place without the police.

"I surrender," he muttered. Sanchez yanked him off of the floor and cuffed him, throwing him to Sykes and Provenza who were standing by.

"Jesus Christ," Andy swore as he holstered his gun and started inspecting Sharon's vitals. Her pulse seemed normal, but that may be thanks to the adrenaline that was no doubt pumping through her body. The cut in her leg was deep enough that it sliced through the pants clean. She'd lost a good deal of blood but it didn't look like any bone had been damaged.

"I'm fine," Sharon said. Andy yanked his tie off and wrapped it around her thigh, putting pressure on the wound.

"Yeah, you're fine alright," he muttered sarcastically. "Someone call the paramedics!" he shouted over his shoulder at a nearby officer.

"Here, help me up. I'll prove it to you."

"You're not well enough to stand," he insisted.

"Flynn, either help me up or get out of my way so I can help myself up," she barked.

Sensing that he wasn't going to win this argument, he carefully helped her up off the ground, and into a vacant chair. He moved a second chair directly in front of her injured leg to elevate it.

"Thank you," she said, softening her tone.

He grabbed a third chair and sat down, running his fingers through his sweaty hair. "Well, it's been a while since I've been on such an exciting date," he said after a moment.

Sharon nodded her head in agreement. "I have to concur. Been a while since I got dragged down to the floor," she said. At his stunned reaction, she winked.

"You know, we caught the bastard. We're not a couple anymore," he said slowly.

"That is true," she said.

"S'nice place here, I mean, when it's not full of uniformed officers and serial killers."

"It is."

Andy scratched his head and frowned. Sharon could tell he was struggling to find the right way to ask her; she found his shyness after everything that had happened this evening endearing.

"Andy? Just ask me out before the paramedics come and give me my pain meds," she said, taking pity on him.

"Would you have dinner with me sometime?" He leaned in and brushed a stray lock of hair off of her forehead.

If the other officers on her team noticed the affectionate exchange between them, they didn't draw attention to it. Sykes, Sanchez, and Provenza busied themselves with securing Howard in the back of a patrol car, the assault weapons, and the evidence from the crime scene that indicated he drew his weapons first.

"Yes, on one condition, we do not come here ever again," she said seriously.

He laughed. "Alright." He leaned in and placed a brief kiss on her forehead.

"Oh, and Andy?"

"Yeah?"

"Next time we dance, I lead," she said with a devious glint in her eyes.

"Yes, Captain," Andy agreed, knowing that he'd enjoy having Sharon lead their next dance.